Food and Fat Tuesday.

I slept 10 hours last night. I think I'm dying. I don't understand why I am so tired all the time! I used to think it was a side effect of my depression, but I've been doing really well the past six weeks; eating right and working out consistently has definitely helped improve my mood, but I still sleep like a hibernating bear.

I keep hoping that maybe it's because I'm doing a lot more than I used to (I'm cooking at least two full meals a day now, in addition to doing three or four 10 minute workouts through-out the day, along with my normal housewife & pet-mom duties) and that after a while it'll balance out, but it seems like after six weeks my body should be used to it by now...right? I really don't want to have to go to the doctor, but I know that it could also be something like a thyroid problem, which would also explain why, despite the incredibly dedicated way I've been eating/working out, weight loss has been slow. Ughh. Why can't I just be normal?

Oh well, not going to dwell on that now.

 Goal update: still doing really well, on all of them! Food logging, calorie-counting, working out, and not buying anything - all in check. Man, I'm awesome.

Since today is Mardi Gras, I'm making jambalaya in the crock-pot! I've been doing amazing on my goal of planning out meals. Usually we plan for a couple of days at a time, and we never buy meat too far in advance, because we never bother to put it in the freezer. Anyway, on Thursday of last week I planned out meals for everyday this week, made a huge grocery list, and we went and bought everything. Then, when I got home, I immediately portioned out the beef and chicken into ziplocs with one pound each, and threw them in the freezer. I also cleared some space on the fridge and put the menu up there, so now everyday I see what's on the menu for the next day and pull that meat down to the fridge to thaw! We try not to have the same meat two days in a row: this week we're have two days of beef, two of chicken, one pork, one fish, and as usual, Sunday is soup day. (AKA leftover day, or Mandi-doesn't-cook-so-fend-for-yourself day)

I'm also having fun finding new recipes that are gluten-free, healthy, and that we both really like. So far my new favorite is beef, black bean, and brown rice stuffed bell peppers. So amazing. Coming in at a close second was this shrimp fried rice. Another one that surprised both of us with how well a bunch of random things tasted together was the quinoa-chicken-sweet potato stir fry. I was so worried about that one, that initially I didn't even tell Josh everything that was in it, because I was afraid he wouldn't even try it: but he did, and we both liked it!

One that we haven't tried yet (because I just found it this weekend) is this one for beef carnitas made in the crock-pot...definitely putting that on next weeks menu! Delicious looking, and I love things made in the crock-pot. So easy. (All of these are on my food board on pinterest, fyi.)

I even made my own delicious recipe for almond crusted cod, using the leftover almond bits after I made almond milk. It was so good that I'm making it again this week (I have lots of almond leftover - I used two pounds of them and made a whole jug of almond milk.) Maybe I'll measure stuff and document my recipe...

Well thanks, internet, I have officially made myself hungry. I'm going to go find something to eat while I wait for my jambalaya to finish up...oh, and I think it's about time I started cooking the rice that's going to go in it, too!

Monday musings

I'm one week into my month of not buying anything and so far so good! It kind of helps that I have stuff I ordered last month that's being delivered sporadically throughout the month, so even if I'm not buying anything, I'm still getting stuff. Today this bracelet came:

So pretty! I love it.

Oh, I wanted to mention this too; I've never really watched The Biggest Loser, not from the start anyway. Occasionally I would catch an episode here or there, or tune in to the finale, but today I had just finished my workout when it came on, so I sat down to watch. It was week two, so this is the earliest I've ever gotten involved, so to speak, and they had a consultation with a doctor for the results of some tests, and something he said really hit home with me. He told one gentleman, "If you had leukemia, wouldn't it be worth it to take two hours out of your day for chemotherapy?"

It just clicked, you know? That all the times I've made excuses for not working out, or for eating a slice of pizza, what I've really been doing is keeping myself sick. If I had any other illness, I wouldn't refuse treatment or cheat on taking medicine - I would do what I needed to do to get better. I sat there, stunned for a minute, letting that philosophy penetrate my mind, and then I got up and started doing more mini-workouts during commercial breaks. Squats, weights, crunches and leg lifts; these are my treatment and healthy food is my medicine. This is no longer a ploy to lose weight that can get tossed on the back burner when something else comes up - this is my life, and I need to be healthy in order to enjoy it to the fullest.

Which brings up another point; my schedule, or lack thereof to be exact. All my life it's been the same - school or work on weekdays, and weekends to catch up on everything else. But yesterday, while I was trying to load the dishwasher in a commercial break during the NCIS marathon Josh and I were watching I realized: I've been doing it all wrong.

My only job now is to be a housewife, and all that stuff that I've been trying to squeeze into a weekend, should be stretched out over the week. My weekdays should focus on cooking three healthy meals for us, picking up after each one so the kitchen mess doesn't pile up, and doing one chore or cleaning one room per day (so as not to get overwhelmed), and my weekends should be mine; to do what I want to, whether it's go on a shopping spree or lay at home watching TV. I need to flip my entire way of thinking around!

Anyway, I've been doing good with my other goal of logging my food intake. I realized that (fortunately!) I haven't been eating as many calories as I thought I was, but I also know that I need to cut out or cut down on a couple of things cheese. I'm trying, and so far I have, and since my moment of clarity today, everything suddenly seems so much easier. I know it won't all be, and I know that I will have moments where I struggle, but...I don't know, I just feel different somehow.

I'm putting together a review post of all my favorite gluten free products, so hopefully I can get that done and posted soon!

November musings

I think I need to set a goal for myself regarding November: make things using only materials I already have on hand! I mean, I have a few skirt ideas in mind that will obviously require me to buy elastic (I cannot install a zipper to save my life) but other than that, no more buying things from re-store! My fabric bins (yes, more than one) are overflowing, and my floor, desk, and coffee table are covered. As in you can barely see what color those things are through all the fabric that's spread out everywhere.

Belle doesn't complain though, she thinks that the craft room is her room and she is the Queen of the Fabric and gets to lay on whatever texture suits her mood at the moment.

I have so many materials already, so much fabric, and too-small or too-big items that need to be altered or just cut up and used as fabric, but I get distracted so easily. I think what I need to do is go through my 'Craft Ideas & Sewing Projects' board on pinterest, pick out some stuff, set up my laptop in the craft room with 5 or 6 project ideas open, and then cut off the wireless so I can't open up anything else!

I do have to make sure I put everything away for the week of Thanksgiving, though, because my in-laws will be here! So I guess minus the half week I've already wasted spent not doing much of anything (well except painting the Coolest Doll Ever) I've got three weeks to work with this month.

Anyway, here are a few pieces I'm wanting to wok on specifically this week:

Ivory/gold brocade skirt. It's a really nice skirt, but it's like one size too small, and I'm not sure whether I should hold out and hope I can fit into it soon, or just go ahead and make something out of it. If I do, I'm thinking a clutch.

This dress is also really nice, but it's an XS and I know I'll never be that tiny so it's destined for re-purposing. Just not too sure what it will turn into...

They're both gold (and sparkly!) which makes me think of winter and Christmas, which is kind of why I'm trying to work with them first.

I also have a black maxi that I grabbed at restore that I'm debating turning into asymmetrical hem skirt...I really don't know! I kind of want to just go ahead and do it because it's a $2 skirt so what's the harm? But at the same time nice flowy, not-faded-one-little-bit thrift store maxis are hard to come by!

Also this month: I'll be getting (and restoring!) a table and six chairs from my in-laws. That will definitely be a learning experience. I might even paint them. We'll see how it goes.

I'll probably also be baking and possibly sharing a few gluten-free ideas. I'm still getting used to this, and finding new things to eat can be hard. Partially because I'm picky, and partially because Josh doesn't have to eat gluten-free, so it can be difficult to find things for both of us to eat, and that still taste good to him. I'm still trying to not eat out the rest of this month, so hopefully embracing the eating at home thing will lead to us finding a balance.

And on a final note, I CANNOT BELIEVE IT IS ALREADY NOVEMBER.

Gluten-free cookies!

After being away from home this weekend, and making my stomach hate me by eating whatever I wanted, I've been a lot more careful these past couple of days. I've been eating a lot of salad, and I picked out a few different gluten-free things to try. I got an Amy's rice-flour frozen mac & cheese (which, by the way, is REALLY good!), a package of Kroger brand apple cinnamon rice cakes (also really good, better than the berry yogurt flavor), Van's gluten-free waffles (can't even tell they're gluten-free!) and the Mom's Best version of cocoa krispies (or pebbles? I don't know the difference.)

What I didn't buy, though, was cookies. Instead, I made some! Not from scratch; I made them from a mix. Usually I would balk at the thought of using a pre-packaged mix for something as simple as cookies, but as anyone else who has to eat gluten-free knows, nothing is simple when all the recipes you can find call for at least two but up to five or six different flours and xanthan gum. So last time we were at Kroger, and I was whining to Josh about how hard it was going to be to figure out how to make a gluten-free pizza crust, lo and behold Bob's Red Mill came to my rescue. They make a pre-packaged gluten-free pizza crust mix that even comes with the yeast! Genius! And then I noticed that two boxes over there was a gluten-free chocolate chip cookie mix that was on sale!

Well, tonight I finally got around to making (preparing) the cookies....and they are delicious! They're not like normal chocolate chip cookies, so I can't compare them exactly, but they're really good. They're thick, the texture is almost like oatmeal cookies, and they get crispy around the edges but stay really soft in the middle. They're not too sweet, and unlike the last gluten-free cookies I made, (from scratch, ironically) you can't taste that powdery, rice-flour taste that is sometimes associated with gluten-free stuff. (Not that I'm complaining - those cookies were great and I would make them again in a heartbeat! They're perfect dunked in coffee!) Anyway, if you're one of the cursed ones whose body rejects gluten and throws you into a three-day cycle of stomach pain and other various forms of torture, I highly recommend you check this out. Unless you just like buying 18 kinds of flour. And xanthan gum.

P.S. I'm totally tagging this part of the 31 days series because even though the preparation was minimal, I STILL MADE THEM. So there.